Friday’s Impressive Qualifying Run – On Friday afternoon, Robby Gordon put his No. 77 Monster Energy Toyo Tires Trophy Truck on the pole for Saturday’s 15th annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, the first of five races in the SCORE International Series. Gordon posted a time of 6 minutes, 43.72 seconds around the 6.25-mile lop, nearly nine seconds faster than his 2008 qualifying time.

Gordon commented moments after posting the fastest lap of the trophy truck qualifiers. “I knew we were running fast, but this was even better than I had anticipated. We are really looking forward to this weekend’s race.”

Saturday’s Race Recap – The Laughlin Desert Challenge is known for its unique racing format, which comprises two days of racing action. The first day of racing commenced Saturday afternoon and the trophy truck class raced eight laps around the 6.25-mile track. Gordon started on the pole and consistently ran in front until he was passed on Lap 7 by Gus Vildosola Jr. He was still able to pilot his No. 77 Monster Energy Toyo Tires Trophy Truck to a second place finish, just 13 seconds behind Vildosola Jr.

The race is scheduled to conclude on Sunday. After the final 8 laps of competition are completed, the winner of the 15th annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge will be determined and Gordon hopes to reign victorious.

“The truck is really good. Laughlin has always been a survival race. Today, we just wanted to survive. The guys did a great job working on the truck. They’ll go back and put in a new drive shaft, transmission, and rear gear. We will cross our fingers and hope that we win tomorrow. It would be great if we could add a victory to our recent third place finish in the Dakar Rally,” commented Gordon on the first half of the Laughlin race.
Domination of Sunday’s Main Event – The first of five SCORE International Series races concluded yesterday afternoon, and Robby Gordon and the No. 77 Monster Energy Toyo Tires team dominated the field to capture the overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck victory in the season-opening Laughlin Desert Challenge. Gordon’s flawless performance earned him the top prize in the unique two-day race event.

After leading the most laps but finishing second in Saturday’s eight lap event around the 6.25-mile track, Gordon and his team knew that their trophy truck still had something to prove. The team did just that; they proved the strength and power of the No. 77 Monster Energy Toyo Tires entry when Gordon crossed the finish line first in Sunday’s main event. Gordon ran a combined total time of 1 hour, 57 minutes, 54 seconds, which is an average of roughly 51 miles per hour. Gordon was 4 minutes, 13 seconds faster than the second place trophy truck and dominated most of the 16 laps over the two days.

“I am very excited that our team was able to win SCORE’s season-opener. After qualifying on the pole on Friday, I knew that we had a truck that could dominate. It was just up to us. All in all, it was a perfect weekend. In racing, you can’t say that very often, but we had one of those weekends that you dream about. I think that this going to be a great year for our team, especially after winning our first SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge race and just having had both Hummers finish in the top-15 at the Dakar Rally. We are going to keep building on this momentum with all our racing programs,” commented an ecstatic Robby Gordon.